Digitally Generated Set of Regional Shapes for Presenting Information on a Display Screen

ABSTRACT

Regional shapes are generated that respectively enclose geographic regions determined within a map area on the display screen. A pattern of vertices is generated within the map area as a set of intersections of map features. Regional shapes are formed by connecting subsets of vertices to form closed shapes. Data sets corresponding to the regional shapes are transmitted to a processor based device that is programmed to render the map area on a display screen with photo overlays that match the regional shapes.

RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a Continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.15/131,013, filed Apr. 17, 2016; which is related to acontemporaneously-filed application by the same Applicant, entitled “ADIGITALLY-GENERATED MAP CONTAINING DEFINED REGIONS FOR RENDERING WITHPHOTO OVERLAYS,” application Ser. No. 15/131,010; which are each herebyincorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND

Maps generally include geographic features such as rivers, lakes andmountains, as well as man-made architectural structures such as streetsand roads, and boundaries defined between regions such as countries andstates. Subsets of larger map areas can be provided in accordance with aselected zoom setting as geographic regions that can be displayed on ascreen of a processor-based digital device that has a limited area and alimited number of pixels.

FIGS. 1A-1C schematically illustrate three example zoom settings thatfeature geographic regions that differ in the real area but occupy asimilar pixel area on a display screen. FIGS. 1A-1C illustrate screenshots of a same location on a map at three zoom levels referred to inthis example as blocks, neighborhoods and cities. For a same geographiclocation and display screen size, regions of greater zoom are generallyincluded within lower zoom regions, while greater zoom regions typicallyinclude more details and features per unit of real area than lower zoomregions. In the example of FIGS. 1A-1C, the regions featured in thescreen shot corresponding to the highest of three example zoom settingsare the city blocks of FIG. 1A, while regions of lesser zoom may featurethe neighborhoods illustrated at FIG. 1B, and regions of still lesserzoom may feature the cities of FIG. 1C.

Geographic regions of various sizes and locations can have subjective,objective or commercial meanings that conventional maps do not convey.It is desired to have a map that is configured to convey meaningsassociated with geographic regions on a map. As described in accordancewith example embodiments below, meanings may be conveyed by associatingdigital images with geographic map regions.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1A-1C schematically illustrate three example geographic regionscorresponding to a location on a map at three zoom levels referred to,respectively, as cities, neighborhoods, and blocks in accordance withcertain embodiments.

FIG. 2 schematically illustrates some of the vertices of an exampleblock in the example map region illustrated at FIG. 1C.

FIGS. 3A-3C schematically illustrate an example method of overlaying aregional shape onto the map that is schematically illustrated at FIG.1C.

FIGS. 4A-4C schematically illustrate how to overlay a pictorial subsetof a selected digital image on top of a regional shape based on featuresappearing within a map region in accordance with certain embodiments.

FIGS. 5A-5C schematically illustrate overlaying one or more pictorialsubsets, such as in the example of FIGS. 4A-4C, onto regional shapes,such as in the example of FIGS. 1A-1C, in accordance with certainembodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

A method is provided herein for generating digital representations thatmatch the shapes of geographic regions appearing within a map area on adisplay screen. The digital representations may be used to createinformational overlays from data associated with the geographic regionsfor rendering within the map area on the display screen. The methodincludes selecting a map area that includes one or more geographicregions for rendering by a processor on a display screen. Map data aredownloaded corresponding to map features appearing within the map area.A pattern of vertices of intersecting map features is collected from themap data. One or more regional shapes is/are generated that respectivelyenclose the one or more geographic regions on the display screen basedon the pattern of vertices. Data sets corresponding to the one or moreregional shapes are transmitted to a processor based device that isprogrammed to present information associated with the one or moregeographic regions to a user by rendering said map area on a displayscreen with said presented information overlayed within said one or moregeographic regions.

The method may include rendering the map area on a display screenincluding photo overlays and/or other presentations of subsets of theassociated information matching respective geographic regions.

One or more regional shapes may be formed by connecting one or moresubsets of vertices to form one or more continuous boundaries for one ormore geographic regions. The continuous boundaries may include polygonsincluding pairs of adjacent sides that intersect at a vertice within thecollected pattern of vertices.

Intersecting map features may include boundaries of real areasrepresented by one or more geographic regions configured for renderingon the display screen. Intersecting map features may include streets,water, parks, neighborhoods, or legislative or jurisdictional borders,or combinations thereof.

Digital image data associated with one or more geographic regions may beretrieved and shaped by a processor to match one or more geographicregions. In certain embodiments, a digital image is cut out to match thesize and shape of a geographic region. Digital image data may includephoto overlays and/or pictorial subsets of photographs that arerespectively associated with and sized and shaped to match one or moregeographic regions.

A map area may be selected based on point location and zoom inputs. Theone or more geographic regions and regional shapes may be updated basedon received point location updates and/or zoom level changes.

A predetermined number of regional shapes may be defined within the maparea for generating matching photo overlays from the digital image data.

Intersecting map features may include one or more segments thatintersect other intersecting map features at each end defining two ofthe vertices within the collection of vertices.

The one or more regional shapes may include polygonal or curved shapesor a combination thereof.

The method may include receiving one or more sets of image datarespectively associated with the one or more geographic regions. One ormore of the selected photo overlays is/are generated from the sets ofimage data to respectively match one or more regional shapes forrendering one or more pictorially overlayed geographic regions withinthe map area on the display screen.

A processor-based device is also provided that includes a processor, aport for sending and receiving data over a network, and one or moredigital storage devices having embedded therein code for programming theprocessor to perform a method of generating geographic regional shapesfor creating matching photo overlay subsets from associated image datato render within a map on a display screen in accordance with any of theembodiments or examples described herein or structural or functionequivalents thereof.

One or more processor-readable digital storage devices is/are alsoprovided with code embedded therein for programming a processor toperform a method of generating geographic regional shapes for creatingmatching pictorial overlays from associated image data to render withina map on a display screen in accordance with any of the embodiments orexample described herein or structural or function equivalents thereof.

A method of displaying digital images within features on a map is alsoprovided. The method includes receiving data identifying a geographiclocation and zoom setting. One or more geographic regions is/areselected within a map area to be rendered on a display screen based onthe geographic location, the zoom setting and map feature data for themap area. One or more received digital images is/are associated with oneor more geographic regions. One or more photo overlay subsets is/aregenerated from the one or more digital images that respectively matchone or more shapes of the one or more geographic regions within the maparea to be rendered on the display screen. Rendering the map area on thedisplay screen may include overlaying one or more matching pictorialsubsets respectively onto one or more geographic regions within the maparea.

The one or more digital images may be selected from one or more digitalfiles. The one or more digital images may be selected based on metadataassociated with the one or more digital images or the one or moredigital files or both. The one or more digital images may be selectedbased on metadata associated with a particular map user. The one or moredigital images may be selected based on most likes, most views, mostcomments, most recent image submitted or most recent image captured, orcombinations thereof.

The one or more digital images may be selected based on locations, e.g.,latitude and longitude or gps location, that are associated with thedigital images. For example, these locations may be the locations of thecamera when the digital images were captured or the locations of scenesor objects in the captured images, or locations where the digital imageswere uploaded to the internet or where the photographer lives or works.

Multiple images may overlay a same geographic region. Multiple photooverlay subsets may be associated with a same geographic region.Multiple images may be selected to alternately overlay a same geographicregion. Multiple photo overlay subsets may be combined in a collageoverlay of a geographic region within the map area on the displayscreen.

The one or more geographic regions may include a city, a neighborhood ora block. In certain embodiments, the geographic regions do not overlapeach other on the map.

A zoom setting may be selected based on tracked user data or manualinput from a user or a combination thereof.

A set of multiple digital images may be selected to respectively overlaya set of multiple non-overlapping geographic regions on a map arearendered on a display screen.

Multiple sets of digital images may be associated and shaped to overlaymultiple respective geographic regions or multiple types of regions orcombinations thereof. Multiple types of geographic regions maycorrespond to different zoom values and/or different geographiclocations. Geographic locations may include locations discerned from gpshaving latitude and longitude coordinates.

The one or more photo overlay subsets may be sized to respectively matchone or more sizes of one or more geographic regions within the map areato be rendered on the display screen.

A processor-based device is also provided including a processor, a portfor sending and receiving data over a network, and one or more digitalstorage devices having embedded therein code for programming theprocessor to perform a method of displaying digital images withinfeatures on a map in accordance with any of the embodiments or examplesdescribed herein or structural or function equivalents thereof.

One or more processor-readable digital storage devices is/are alsoprovided that have embedded therein code for programming a processor toperform a method of displaying digital images within features on a mapin accordance with any of the embodiments or example described herein orstructural or function equivalents thereof.

Examples of Block Polygon or Other Geographic Region Generation andServing to Client

Digital maps may be rendered on any display screen that is part of orcoupled to a processor-based device, or digital device, that isprogrammed to render map images on the screen. The digital device mayretrieve map data from a server that is connected on the same network asthe digital device. The map data may be continuously accessed over thenetwork connection or certain map data may be downloaded onto thedigital device or another device on a local area network that the deviceis connected within. For example, Open Street Maps data may bedownloaded and utilized for rendering map areas that may be centered ator near a certain gps location. In certain embodiments, data derivedfrom Open Street Maps may be used to create image overlays that areplaced on top of maps derived from non-Open Street Maps mapping systemssuch as Google Maps or Apple Maps or other mapping systems, particularlythose tending to be consistent for geographies of interest.

The size of the real area that is represented on the display screen mapdepends on a zoom setting for the map and can range from a severalmeters to several thousands of kilometers. Zooming in or out may beactuated in accordance with a default method of an underlying digitalmapping technology, and/or by pinch zooming such as on a touch screendisplay screen and/or by actuating a continuous or quasi continuouslinear slider that may be configured to zoom in or out by a certainincrement in the magnification or reduction multiplier or set ofmultipliers.

The geographic region type may change at when a certain zoom level iscrossed while increasing or decreasing zoom. For example, referring toFIGS. 1A-1C, three geographic region types may be defined such ascities, neighborhoods and blocks or countries, states and cities orgalaxies, star clusters and solar systems. Other examples of geographicregion types that may depend on zoom level include counties, states,provinces, regions, countries, or continents, or if the map is of atheme park, then certain roller coasters may be regions or food, rides,games, water park and zoo may be five geographic regions that may appearon a map area on a display, or a shopping mall may have stores or groupsof stores as regions, or a seating chart may have certain price levelsfor tickets as regions and pictorial subsets of persons within eachregion may overlay the region on the map area on the display screenand/or may have a same size and/or shape as the region, or a companyregional management map may include geographic regions where the companydoes business each headed by a manager whose face appear as a pictorialoverlay on the geographic region, or a game device map of quests orlevels, or anything else about which one may benefit from having a mapthat may include one or more distinct regions that may be associatedwith a photograph and overlayed with a pictorial crop or combination ofcrops or thumbnails or other subsets of photographic pixels.

In certain embodiments, when the map's zoom level changes, the level ofgeographic entity changes. As it may not be feasible or at least notdesirable in certain embodiments to provide too many blocks in a view ofa large city, e.g., due to overcrowding of the map as it appears on adisplay screen of limited size, in these embodiments, the softwaresystem (server+client) is protected from a huge burden of downloadingand rendering too many images in real time. Thus, in these embodiments,the right level of geographical entity is displayed for a current zoomlevel, which advantageously enhances software performance.

In one example process, Open Street Maps (OSM) data may be downloadedfor a country. For example, United States OSM data may be downloaded.

Street segments may be generated and stored, particularly for maps ofcities or regions within cities. In certain embodiments, street segmentsinside a park may be ignored. Segments may be composed of two verticesand a street segment having a commonly understood street name.

Park border segments may be generated and stored along with the streetsegments.

New water-related vertices may be added. In certain embodiments, thefollowing example may be followed to create blocks, polygons orgeographic regions within map areas having linear and/or curved segmentsthat border water, such as at beaches, lakes, river banks and dams.

Water polygons or water regions may be converted in certain embodimentsinto water border line strings.

Street vertices near water objects may be selected if within adetermined distance, e.g., 500 meters or less in accordance with certainembodiments.

In certain example embodiments, a point on a water border closest to oneor more street vertices may be found. A new “pseudo street” segment maybe created from each of these street vertices to that point on the waterborder. When there are two pseudo street segments that cross oneanother, an example method may include deleting the one that has asmaller angle with water, where a maximum angle may be 90 degrees. Theremaining new points on the water border may form new vertices, suchthat new segments on the water border are formed. Pseudo street segmentsmay be added to a database containing geographic regions for multiplezoom levels, multiple gps locations, multiple street segmentsintersecting other streets at vertices defined at both ends, and othermap feature data, digital image data, photo overlay or pictorial subsetdata, associations, metadata, tags and other indicia that relate certaingeographic regions or other regions of an map area rendered on a digitaldisplay screen controlled by a processor-based device.

In certain embodiments, vertices are created from publicly or privatelygenerated map data that show actual real world borders of roads, water,parks and/or other map features. The basis for these vertices andpolygons or other regional shapes is based on real map data thatrepresent real geographic features.

Certain types of street data may be ignored in certain embodimentsand/or not used to generate a pattern of vertices nor geographic regionswithin a map area and/or not stored to the database. One example is a“dead end,” while another is a “cul-de-sac”, and any other streetsegment that does not intersect other map features at one or both ends.

FIG. 2 schematically illustrates a pattern of vertices of intersectingmap features generated based on features appearing within the examplegeographic map region that is schematically illustrated at FIG. 1A.

Client Request to the Server

A block, neighborhood, or city surrounding a given point “A” may berequested by a client computer, mobile device or other processor-baseddevice. The example point A may be a gps location defined by both alatitude and a longitude, and in certain embodiments height data ordistance from the center of the earth or another third dimensionalmeasure of position relative to the Earth. If a block or geographicregion within a map area rendered on a display screen that contains thisexample location or point “A” is already stored in the database, then incertain embodiments the stored region is returned to the client, whilein other embodiments, one or more additional regions may be generatedthat may vary is some large or small way from the stored region ordistribution of regions within the map area, such that multiple regionaldistribution option may be selected from. If there is no geographicregion stored in the database for the point A, then the region may begenerated dynamically, returned to the client, and stored in thedatabase in certain embodiments.

In either case, once a server in accordance with certain embodimentsgets the block polygon or geographic region, the block or region isreturned by the server to the client. For example, a JSON formattedstream may be provided as a set of points, in latitude+longitude space(e.g. “37.1121, −122.4532”).

Block or Region Generation Examples

For the example point A, a smallest closed polygon of segments thatsurrounds A may be defined by connecting proximate vertices withcontinuous lines or curved segments. In one example, vertices within 1km from A may be used for a particular zoom level setting, whilevertices further away are not used. In other words, no vertice furtherthan 1 km from A in this example will be used or considered to generatea block or geographic region or other closed or quasi-closed shapewithin a map area to be rendered with photo overlays in accordance withcertain embodiments. This example rule limits the size of a block incertain embodiments, which may be particularly relevant for rural areasor oceans or polar regions or deserts or other sparse or feature barrenregions. In certain embodiments, points in many rural areas may generateno block and have no geographic region to overlay with a pictorialsubset or photo overlay.

Referring to FIG. 3A, finding a vertice B0 closest to the given point Ais illustrated.

Referring to FIG. 3B, finding a segment B0_B1 with minimal angle A_B0_B1is illustrated.

Referring to FIG. 3C, find a segment B1_B2 with minimal angle B0_B1_B2is illustrated.

Certain embodiments may include one or more iterations (e.g., not morethan 100 times) of finding segment BN_BN+1 with minimal angleBN−1_BN_BN+1 until vertice BN+1=B0.

If the found polygon is too small, e.g., less than 1000 square meters,then it may be rejected in certain embodiments.

Of course, the amount of detail that is available within a map arearepresented on a display screen per unit of real area increases withhigher zoom but everything outside the area that is rendered on thescreen does not appear at all unless the gps location is adjusted or thezoom is reduced. Suffice it to say that certain zoom settings are moreuseful for certain applications than for others, and a single use of adigitally-rendered map can involve multiple gps location and/or zoomsetting adjustments before the user gets a satisfactory answer to aquestion or a sufficient amount of information.

A map area rendered on a display screen of a digital device may includewords, geographic symbols or colors representing landscape features suchas mountains and rivers as well as man-made features such as streets,highways, parks, commercial or government buildings, public transitlines and even advertisements. Jurisdictional, legislative or zoningregion boundaries may be indicated on a map even if there is no naturalnor man-made feature associated with all of part of these boundaries.

In certain embodiments, distinctions and boundaries between a small fewto several geographic regions that may be large enough to view on asingle display screen may be downloaded from an authoritative orcommercial source or from a past experience of the user or a familymember, friend or trusted colleague of associate. In certainembodiments, geographic regions can be determined from the map data inaccordance with an advantageous process involving collecting certainfeature data from the map data appearing on the display screen oruser-defined, user-preferred or otherwise subjective inputs from theowner or user of the digital device, or meta-data associated with placesor objects on the map that might set geographic regions apart yet mightnot be viewable, e.g., the price of a home in a certain area or theaverage rent or the zoning restrictions or demographics of areas.

In certain embodiments, certain common features such as streets, parks,rivers and lakes are selected, particularly common features such asthese examples that intersect other common features. Points ofintersection of the selected map features, e.g., where perpendicularstreets on a city grid meet or where a street meets a river or a park,are collected as a pattern of vertices overlaying the map area. Thepattern of vertices may include a reasonable number of vertices spacedapart by between 5 mm and 5 cm depending on the size of the displayscreen and/or the density or diversity of discernible and relevantdifferences between subsets of the map area on the display screen.

In certain embodiments, geographic regions can be selectively orarbitrarily generated by providing continuous linear or curved segmentsbetween adjacent or closest vertices and/or connecting vertices in amanner designed to generate the largest number of closed shapes or moreor less some reasonable number such as 5, 10 or 15 regions in thedisplayed map area, or selecting smallest sized, closed polygons orcurved or arbitrarily shaped geographic regions formed by including thefewest number of vertices without skipping or a fewest number ofsmallest segments between vertices or picking a rotation directionalways turning 90 degrees in a same direction toward a closest nextvertice, or another set of rules such as these that produces reliably asatisfactory number of not too many and not too few closed shapes on thedisplay screen. These one or more regional shapes are generated incertain embodiments such as to respectively enclose one or moregeographic regions on the display screen based on the pattern ofvertices.

In certain embodiments, trusted social network friends or any designatedgroup of people may use subjective preferences or favorites, perceivedobjective knowledge, or commercial data such as may have been purchasedby a person or company with a business agenda to draw up the geographicregion distribution of a map area, or rules or process steps to befollowed, in certain embodiment, for collecting feature data, or featureintersection data, to generate the pattern of vertices from which theregions are drawn by connecting the dots, or to directly or by freehand(without the dots) draw shapes that follow common sense boundaries orpreferentially selected boundaries or boundary segments based on mapfeature data, meta data or user experiences where pictures may have beentaken including the user and certain friends in a group picture or theuser alone in a selfie or an object or music group or idea that incertain embodiments a user may wish to associate with a certaingeographic region by attaching a tag to the image data identifying thegeographic region or by tagging the region with identifying digitalimage indicia. A collection of vertices, or dots, in accordance withcertain embodiments, provides a framework for generating closed shapessuch as polygons, or ellipses or other curved shapes that photo overlayimages may be placed on top of within the map. Such association of ageographic region with a digital image may be used during the process ofgenerating the geographic regions or selecting region shapes and/orsizes and/or such association may occur after the geographic regions aredetermined or otherwise may be independent of the process that resultedin creation of the pattern of vertices and/or geographic regional shapeswithin the map area.

Regardless, a digital image may be associated with a geographic regionwithin a map area on a digital device screen display by the owner of thedevice or a designated proxy such as a favorite social network page orother web site designated by the owner of the device or a proxy. Incertain embodiments, one or more pictorial subsets of the associateddigital image data are generated that have a same or similar shape asthe geographic region and/or may have a same or similar size, and/orresolution, and/or the pictorial subset may be cropped and/or rotatedand cropped and/or zoomed in or out before rotating and/or cropping tomatch the shape of the geographic region so that the map area may berendered on the display screen with the pictorial subset overlayed ontothe associated geographic region without overlaying adjacent orproximate geographic regions which may be overlayed themselves with anassociated pictorial subset.

The pictorial subsets or photo overlays may be created by cutting thegeographic entity's shape out of a rectangular base photo like using acookie cutter. In certain embodiments, neither adjacent geographicregions nor adjacent photo overlays overlap, while either or both mayshare all or a fraction of a common border and/or separations may appearbetween photo overlayed geographic regions such as streets or otherfeatures that serve to space apart features or entities that may appearon a map area. Lines may be drawn along a common boundary to delineatedifferent photo overlay images and/or different geographic regions orother area subsets that may appear on a map and little or no spacing isdesired to be disposed between adjacent examples of such different photooverlays and/or map regions.

Photo overlay images may be displayed collectively as a layer in adigital map. Photo overlay images may pan and zoom with the map, alongwith other map annotations like street names and geographic borderdesignations. In certain embodiments, the photo overlay images becomepart of the map interface that changes as the rest of the map changes.

Certain digital images may be selected over others based on a widevariety of factors such as locations, e.g., latitude and longitudecoordinates, associated with the digital images. That location may bewhere the photo was taken, or it may be some other attribute of theimage (e.g. the home of the photographer). Other factors may includemost likes, most views, most comments, most recent photo submitted, mostrecent photo taken. Multiple photos may rotate like a slide show withinthe geographic region or may be combined such as in a collage, or avideo clip may automatically play or by available to play as a sequenceof pictorial subsets of video frames within the geographic region. Oneor more photos may be taken by one person or a group of people, such aspeople the user follows, friends of the user, a private group such ascoworkers or classmates or club members or a demographic group, an agegroup such as teens or senior citizens, or a gender or a politicalcampaign or social reform group or consumer advocate group.

Any digital image can be deselected or selected based on how old thephoto is, or based on the photo being taken or submitted in a specifictime or date period or range around a certain time or date within whichthe photo was not taken or submitted, such as the current year or theuser birth year or the birth year of a child or other family member ofthe user or a current month or birth month of the user or someone closeto the user, or the current week or another selected week in history, ortoday or any day in the past when a photo may have been taken orsubmitted, and an arbitrary time or date range may be selected from Xtime/date to Y time/date.

In certain embodiments, a map area may be displayed on a screen of adigital device or controlled by a processor directly or remotely or overa network. The map area may include photo overlays whose bounds mayinclude one or more borders of geographic regions or entities within themap area on the display screen. In one view, multiple geographicentities may be at the same level (e.g. blocks, neighborhoods, cities,counties, states, countries).

Each of the photos that appear on the map area may be referred to asphoto overlays or pixel subsets of larger images or pictorial subsets orimage overlays. An overlay may be created in one example embodiment bycutting the geographic entity's shape out of a rectangular base photo,like using a cookie cutter, and any of a variety of cropping methods maybe used and/or image data may be shrunk in size proportional to areduction in zoom, or vice versa, or proportional to an initialdisparity between the size of an associated digital image and ageographical region within a map area displayed on a digital devicescreen or on a display device that is controlled by a processor-baseddevice.

FIGS. 4A-4B schematically illustrate generating a pictorial subset of aselected digital image that matches a regional shape generated based onfeatures appearing within a map region such as the example map regionillustrated schematically in FIGS. 1A-3C in accordance with certainembodiments.

Referring to FIGS. 5A-5C, three views at three zoom levels areillustrated for a starting point or location in the South of Marketneighborhood of San Francisco. FIGS. 1A-1C respectively illustrate aBlock view, a Neighborhood view, and a City view in accordance withcertain embodiments.

Data generated for geographic regions in accordance with certainembodiments may be used to render a map or for other purposes. Forexample, data generated for geographic regions in accordance withcertain embodiments may be used to aggregate point historical data pergeographic region. Those aggregate data could then be presented in a mapand/or in another way other than in a map, such as (i) a graph (e.g., apie chart of all robberies in a neighborhood by block), or (ii) a table(e.g., a table showing number of robberies in a neighborhood by block),or (iii) a summary of statistics (e.g., 7% of robberies in theneighborhood last year were in block A, 4% were in block B, etc.), or(iv) a regression analysis (e.g., robberies in a block are highlycorrelated with evictions in a block).

Data generated and/or created for geographic regions in accordance withcertain embodiments may be used to generate alerts of one or moreoccurrences of a type of event in real time. Categorization inside ageographic entity in accordance with certain embodiments may be used toassist and/or enable users (e.g., city police or fire authorities,neighborhood watch or other community groups) to decide how to respond.For example, a fire may be reported as having broken out in a particularblock. The proper block designation would trigger an alarm at thecorrect fire station in certain embodiments. In another example, a poweroutage may occur at a particular electric company region that is definedwithin an infrastructure map in accordance with certain embodiments. Theregion data may be used to assist or enable a power company to diagnosewhere the source of the problem is and/or how to respond. In anotherexample, security cameras may detect a number of usual or unusual motionpatterns or alerts in a geographic region such as in a neighborhooddefined as a few blocks within a city and within a within a certain timerange. This could help users understand the activities happening in thisneighborhood for developing marketing or police strategies.

A map may be generated with defined geographic regions at multiple zoomlevels in accordance with certain embodiments. Such a map may bedisplayed on a display screen of a digital device or in other waysincluding as a 3D model or a paper print out.

Various modifications and alterations of the invention will becomeapparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the spiritand scope of the invention, which is defined by the accompanying claims.It should be noted that steps recited in any method claims below do notnecessarily need to be performed in the order that they are recited.Those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize variations inperforming the steps from the order in which they are recited. Inaddition, the lack of mention or discussion of a feature, step, orcomponent provides the basis for claims where the absent feature orcomponent is excluded by way of a proviso or similar claim language.

While various embodiments of the present invention have been describedabove, it should be understood that they have been presented by way ofexample only, and not of limitation. The various diagrams may depict anexample architectural or other configuration for the invention, which isdone to aid in understanding the features and functionality that may beincluded in the invention. The invention is not restricted to theillustrated example architectures or configurations, but the desiredfeatures may be implemented using a variety of alternative architecturesand configurations. Indeed, it will be apparent to one of skill in theart how alternative functional, logical or physical partitioning andconfigurations may be implemented to implement the desired features ofthe present invention. Also, a multitude of different constituent modulenames other than those depicted herein may be applied to the variouspartitions. Additionally, with regard to flow diagrams, operationaldescriptions and method claims, the order in which the steps arepresented herein shall not mandate that various embodiments beimplemented to perform the recited functionality in the same orderunless the context dictates otherwise.

Although the invention is described above in terms of various exemplaryembodiments and implementations, it should be understood that thevarious features, aspects and functionality described in one or more ofthe individual embodiments are not limited in their applicability to theparticular embodiment with which they are described, but instead may beapplied, alone or in various combinations, to one or more of the otherembodiments of the invention, whether or not such embodiments aredescribed and whether or not such features are presented as being a partof a described embodiment. Thus the breadth and scope of the presentinvention should not be limited by any of the above-described exemplaryembodiments.

Terms and phrases used in this document, and variations thereof, unlessotherwise expressly stated, should be construed as open ended as opposedto limiting. As examples of the foregoing: the term “including” shouldbe read as meaning “including, without limitation” or the such as; theterm “example” is used to provide exemplary instances of the item indiscussion, not an exhaustive or limiting list thereof; the terms “a” or“an” should be read as meaning “at least one,” “one or more” or the suchas; and adjectives such as “conventional,” “traditional,” “normal,”“standard,” “known” and terms of similar meaning should not be construedas limiting the item described to a given time period or to an itemavailable as of a given time, but instead should be read to encompassconventional, traditional, normal, or standard technologies that may beavailable or known now or at any time in the future. Hence, where thisdocument refers to technologies that would be apparent or known to oneof ordinary skill in the art, such technologies encompass those apparentor known to the skilled artisan now or at any time in the future.

A group of items linked with the conjunction “and” should not be read asrequiring that each and every one of those items be present in thegrouping, but rather should be read as “and/or” unless expressly statedotherwise. Similarly, a group of items linked with the conjunction “or”should not be read as requiring mutual exclusivity among that group, butrather should also be read as “and/or” unless expressly statedotherwise. Furthermore, although items, elements or components of theinvention may be described or claimed in the singular, the plural iscontemplated to be within the scope thereof unless limitation to thesingular is explicitly stated.

The presence of broadening words and phrases such as “one or more,” “atleast,” “but not limited to” or other such as phrases in some instancesshall not be read to mean that the narrower case is intended or requiredin instances where such broadening phrases may be absent. The use of theterm “module” does not imply that the components or functionalitydescribed or claimed as part of the module are all configured in acommon package. Indeed, any or all of the various components of amodule, whether control logic or other components, may be combined in asingle package or separately maintained and may further be distributedacross multiple locations.

Additionally, the various embodiments set forth herein are described interms of exemplary block diagrams, flow charts and other illustrations.As will become apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art afterreading this document, the illustrated embodiments and their variousalternatives may be implemented without confinement to the illustratedexamples. For example, block diagrams and their accompanying descriptionshould not be construed as mandating a particular architecture orconfiguration.

The previous description of the disclosed embodiments is provided toenable any person skilled in the art to make or use the presentinvention. Various modifications to these embodiments will be readilyapparent to those skilled in the art, and the generic principles definedherein may be applied to other embodiments without departing from thespirit or scope of the invention. Thus, the present invention is notintended to be limited to the embodiments shown herein but is to beaccorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and novelfeatures disclosed herein.

Thus, for example, it will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill inthe art that the diagrams, schematics, illustrations, and the such asrepresent conceptual views or processes illustrating systems and methodsin accordance with particular embodiments. The functions of the variouselements shown in the figures may be provided through the use ofdedicated hardware as well as hardware capable of executing associatedsoftware. Similarly, any switches shown in the figures are conceptualonly. Their function may be carried out through the operation of programlogic, through dedicated logic, through the interaction of programcontrol and dedicated logic, or even manually, the particular techniquebeing selectable by the entity implementing this invention. Those ofordinary skill in the art further understand that the exemplaryhardware, software, processes, methods, and/or operating systemsdescribed herein are for illustrative purposes and, thus, are notintended to be limited to any particular named manufacturer.

1. (canceled)
 2. A processor-based device, comprising: a processor; aport for sending and receiving data over a network; and one or moredigital storage devices having embedded therein code for programming theprocessor to perform a method of displaying digital images withinfeatures on a map, wherein the method comprises: receiving dataidentifying a geographic location and zoom setting; selecting one ormore geographic regions within a map area to be rendered on a displayscreen based on said geographic location, said zoom setting and mapfeature data for said map area; receiving one or more digital imagesassociated with said one or more geographic regions; generating one ormore pictorial subsets of said one or more digital images thatrespectively match one or more shapes of said one or more geographicregions, including cutting out said one or more pictorial subsets fromsaid one or more digital images to match specific respective contours ofsaid pictorial subsets to said geographic regions, within said map areato be rendered on said display screen; and rendering said map area onsaid display screen including overlaying said one or more matchingpictorial subsets respectively onto said one or more geographic regionswithin said map area.
 3. The processor-based device of claim 2, whereinthe method comprises selecting said one or more digital images from oneor more digital files.
 4. The processor-based device of claim 2, whereinthe method comprises selecting said one or more digital images based onmetadata associated with the one or more digital images or said one ormore digital files or both.
 5. The processor-based device of claim 2,wherein the method comprises selecting said one or more digital imagesbased on metadata associated with a particular map user.
 6. Theprocessor-based device of claim 2, wherein the method comprisesselecting said one or more digital images based on most likes, mostviews, most comments, most recent image submitted, most recent imagecaptured, best or worst image, or most or least interesting image, orcombinations thereof.
 7. The processor-based device of claim 2,comprising selecting said one or more digital images based on locationsassociated with the digital images.
 8. The processor-based device ofclaim 7, wherein said locations associated with said digital imagescomprise latitude and longitude coordinates.
 9. The processor-baseddevice of claim 2, wherein said geographic region comprises a planet,continent, country, state or province, region, county, city, aneighborhood or a block, or combinations thereof
 10. The processor-baseddevice of claim 2, wherein the method comprises selecting said zoomsetting based on manual input from a user.
 11. The processor-baseddevice of claim 2, wherein the method comprises selecting a set ofmultiple digital images to respectively overlay on a set of multiplenon-overlapping geographic regions on said map rendered on said displayscreen.
 12. The processor-based device of claim 2, wherein the methodcomprises selecting multiple sets of digital images to respectivelyoverlay geographic regions of multiple types, and wherein said multipletypes of geographic regions correspond to different zoom values.
 13. Theprocessor-based device of claim 2, wherein the method comprisesselecting multiple sets of digital images to respectively overlaygeographic regions of multiple types, and wherein said multiple types ofgeographic regions comprise different geographic locations.
 14. Theprocessor-based device of claim 2, wherein said one or more digitalimages were each captured by a respective camera and at the time ofimage capture either: said camera was located within a respectivegeographic region, or said camera was directed at a scene or objectlocated within said respective geographic region, or said camera wasboth located within and directed at a scene or object located withinsaid respective geographic region.
 15. The processor-based device ofclaim 14, further comprising: receiving a second zoom setting; selectinga second set of one or more geographic regions within a second map areato be rendered on said display screen based on said geographic location,said second zoom setting and a second set of map feature data for saidsecond map area; and repeating the receiving, generating and renderingsteps for said second zoom setting, thereby rendering said second maparea on said display screen including overlaying a second set of one ormore matching pictorial subsets respectively onto said second set of oneor more geographic regions within said second map area.
 16. One or moredigital storage devices having embedded therein code for programming aprocessor to perform a method of displaying digital images withinfeatures on a map, wherein the method comprises: receiving dataidentifying a geographic location and zoom setting; selecting one ormore geographic regions within a map area to be rendered on a displayscreen based on said geographic location, said zoom setting and mapfeature data for said map area; receiving one or more digital imagesassociated with said one or more geographic regions; generating one ormore pictorial subsets of said one or more digital images thatrespectively match one or more shapes of said one or more geographicregions, including cutting out said one or more pictorial subsets fromsaid one or more digital images to match specific respective contours ofsaid pictorial subsets to said geographic regions, within said map areato be rendered on said display screen; and rendering said map area onsaid display screen including overlaying said one or more matchingpictorial subsets respectively onto said one or more geographic regionswithin said map area.
 17. The processor-based device of claim 16,wherein the method comprises selecting multiple sets of digital imagesto respectively overlay geographic regions of multiple types, andwherein said multiple types of geographic regions comprise differentgeographic locations.
 18. The processor-based device of claim 16,wherein the generating of said pictorial subsets comprises cutting out aregion of a digital image that matches a size and shape of a geographicregion within said map.
 19. The processor-based device of claim 16,wherein said one or more digital images were each captured by arespective camera and at the time of image capture either: said camerawas located within a respective geographic region, or said camera wasdirected at a scene or object located within said respective geographicregion, or said camera was both located within and directed at a sceneor object located within said respective geographic region.
 20. Theprocessor-based device of claim 19, further comprising: receiving asecond zoom setting; selecting a second set of one or more geographicregions within a second map area to be rendered on said display screenbased on said geographic location, said second zoom setting and a secondset of map feature data for said second map area; and repeating thereceiving, generating and rendering steps for said second zoom setting,thereby rendering said second map area on said display screen includingoverlaying a second set of one or more matching pictorial subsetsrespectively onto said second set of one or more geographic regionswithin said second map area.
 21. A method of displaying digital imageswithin features on a map, wherein the method comprises: receiving dataidentifying a geographic location and zoom setting; selecting one ormore geographic regions within a map area to be rendered on a displayscreen based on said geographic location, said zoom setting and mapfeature data for said map area; receiving one or more digital imagesassociated with said one or more geographic regions; generating one ormore pictorial subsets of said one or more digital images thatrespectively match one or more shapes of said one or more geographicregions, including cutting out said one or more pictorial subsets fromsaid one or more digital images to match specific respective contours ofsaid pictorial subsets to said geographic regions, within said map areato be rendered on said display screen; and rendering said map area onsaid display screen including overlaying said one or more matchingpictorial subsets respectively onto said one or more geographic regionswithin said map area.